Life and Times in Kenya and UK

 Greetings, 

This is blog #2 with the goal of letting folks know what’s up with us.  The last one was sent April 7 and we were still in BCS, MX between Todos Santos at Flora del Mar (FDM) (Marilyn’s home) and San Jose del Cabo at Casa Luna (my home). We had a great pickle ball tournament in April at FDM with over 40 players.

Dogs.

Much of May was spent with dogs and getting ready to leave for the summer.  In the dog world, our adolescent trouble maker, “Peanut” had surgery for a torn ligament in his knee (very painful).  The surgery seemed “routine” but the recovery requires absolute quiet for 3 months!! And if you knew Peanut, you know this was a big order.  We signed up Efrain, one of our staff at Flora del Mar to the task, and it seems to have been successful - no pain/no limp.  The other dog story is that someone “dropped off’ a young emaciated 2 year old with a mangled raw stump for a rear paw.  We had the leg amputated just before we left and she’s also looking good — her name is now “Trés-si” for obvious reason.  And for those that remember him, Riley is with the gang of 8 at Flora del Mar, doing well and learning Spanish ;-).  We’ll all be back together in November.

Safari.

At the end of May, Marilyn and I traveled to Nairobi, Kenya for a safari that Marilyn hosted for her kids (Tannan and David) as well as their families (all four grandkids). It was truly a “trip of a life time.”  So proud of Marilyn for doing this for her family.  Marilyn has been to Africa before and even volunteered at a Rhino sanctuary at one point.  It was perfect timing.  The youngest grand child is old enough to remember and the oldest will be off to college next year.

We started at Nairobi National Park for a few days just a few miles from the airport in Nairobi.  We stayed at a wonderful lodge just off the park border, the Emakoko, and nearly an hour from the city of Nairobi.  We went out on early morning and early evening guided rides.  We saw an amazing number of animals here considering how close it is to a major urban center,

but it did have the feel of a “safari park” in the US.  For instance, it’s too small to host elephants (45 sq miles); they know every rhino; they have two prides of lions and know where they are, etc.  One of the highlights here was visiting the Kendrick Elephant Orphanage

in Nairobi.

But then we flew (a little over an hour in a prop plane) to the Maasai Mara National Reserve that is continuous with the Seregenti National Park in Tanzania.  We stayed at a more rustic (but very nice) lodge owned and operated by two Maasai partners and businessmen.  We were there for 3 days, took a hot air balloon ride, and saw an amazing diversity and large quantities of animals including black and white rhinos (often with their horns as Kenya has been successful in their anti-poaching efforts),

leopard, cheetah, lions

as well as crocodiles, hippos, buffalo, giraffes and I lost track of the different antelope (from the size of small dog to big as a small horse). 

We were here for 3 days and saw more than a 100 species of animals without counting birds

(which were amazing).

We flew to 2 other lodges, Lewa House, quite luxurious, and then on to Malo, before returning to Nairobi. We saw unique zebras and giraffes that were not at the Maasai Mara as well as taking a night tour.

In all, it was an amazing trip..truly remarkable…I’d go back in a minute (with my grandkids when they’re old enough to remember).

Isle of Wight, UK.

Before heading back to the US, we wanted to see the progress on the boat.  The A4702 is being built in Newport in the middle of the Isle of Wight.  We also enjoyed a couple of days in Southampton where we met up with the owner of Archipelago, Stephen and his French designer, Thomas. We took the ferry to the Isle of Wight where the boat was in very early stages of being assembled

in Archipelago’s recently leased boat yard.  Seeing the boat even at this early stage got us pumped up about the project again.

From there we went to London (stayed in Kensington) for a few days of being tourists, eating at Gauthier’s again (3 star Michelin Vegan restaurant).  London is really fun for us but oh my, so expensive!!

Idaho - The Writer’s Conference

Now we’re in Idaho (after stays with our grandkids in Calif. and Idaho respectively).  Marilyn is “working” as a volunteer at the annual writer’s conference in Sun Valley (that she’s done for 20 years). I get to listen for free outside on the lawn to most of it and it’s usually pretty good stuff.  One of the headliners this year is a favorite of mine, Doris Kearns Goodwin, because as a presidential historian she brought Abraham Lincoln’s greatness and the root and lingering causes of the Civil War to me in a way I could understand and value. When asked after her presentation about future presidents based on her study of our past presidents, her most heartfelt advice was:  go for character …the greats on both sides of the aisle were those with a vision for America, but most of all, character.

The RV.

Soon we’ll be heading out of Sun Valley in our RV (truck camper). 

We’ll head first to Montana (wolf pack tour just north of Yellowstone), Banff area in Canada, and then BC including Vancouver Island.  We’ve never gone anywhere with the RV so this should be an adventure one way or the other ;-).  

We hope this finds you well and of course, we’d love to hear from you… As per the initial blog, the attempt here is to stay in touch and not get too estranged as we move along to new places and new adventures.  I’m hoping to do this 3 to 4 times a year…but if that’s even a bit much, feel free without any judgment, to opt out.

Enjoy your summer!  Mike & Marilyn